The present invention relates to cooking apparatuses and method for cooking food products, and more particularly to an apparatus and method for assessing the cooked status of the food product during cooking, using non-invasive sensing devices and systems.
The demand for fast food is increasing more than ever before, and the necessity of quality fast food is also increasing with the demand. A significant concern with the increasing demand for fast food, is the potential that the meats (hamburger patties, chicken breast portions, etc.) Being rapidly prepared are not all being cooked sufficiently or to the proper temperatures. This could lead to the insufficient destruction of microorganisms in the food, which could cause sickness or disease if eaten. Cooking the foods to the proper temperatures (as specified by FDA) will destroy such harmful microorganisms in the food.
Since most fast food meats remain frozen until it is time for the food to be cooked, it is difficult to ensure that the inner-most section of food is properly cooked. A common means of checking internal temperature is using a thermometer or a thermocouple. This is a contact type of process where the probe will have to physically enter the food to measure the temperature. Such processes are time consuming and difficult to perform in a fast-food preparation atmosphere.
Accordingly there is a need for automated, non-contact methods and apparatuses for effectively measuring or estimating the internal temperature of food being cooked. These methods will measure/estimate core temperature on-line, tremendously reducing the chances of undercooked food being served and, thereby, reducing the risk of disease/virus/bacteria carry over with food.
One possible contact-less method could be assessment of reduction of weight of food. This is based on decrease in weight of food as it is cooked. The reduction primarily comes from evaporation of moisture from food. Here we are expecting to have near constant moisture content in food, which seems little too much to expect. Also, differential evaporation may occur, i.e., food may lose too much water from the surface and adjacent area (which may indicate adequate cooking) while core may still be under cooked. Also the accuracy and repeatability required for such an instrument is not currently available. Then there are possible methods like LASER and Laser ultrasound, but these at present times may not financially viable.